


in which evelyn robin gets to dance

by sweaterboys



Category: Christopher Robin (2018)
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 17:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15611745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweaterboys/pseuds/sweaterboys





	in which evelyn robin gets to dance

Pooh’s fallen asleep on the couch, one paw in his mouth, halfway through yet another pot of honey. Christopher looks at him fondly, shakes his head. “Silly old bear,” he murmurs, moving the honey and carrying Pooh upstairs. His friend stirs. 

“Christopher Robin?” Pooh mumbles. 

“Yes, Pooh?”

The bear snuggles closer to him and smiles a little, half-asleep. “I missed you,” he says, and Christopher feels a lump of-- something in his throat.

“I missed you too, Pooh,” he says quietly, and it’s the truest thing he’s ever said. He swallows, sets the bear down on the bed, tucks him in. “Get some rest. I’ll be here tomorrow morning.”

Pooh is already asleep. Christopher looks at him a second, then leans down and very gently kisses his head.

He wanders back downstairs and just breathes for a while, thinks about everything he’s done and everything that he hasn’t, thinks about his youth and his daughter’s youth and endless summer days spent in a forest that he called home. He exhales, and walks over to play some music. He hates that he’s fallen out of that habit. What else, he wonders, had he lost?

Christopher listens to familiar songs and makes himself a cup of tea. There’s the sound of footsteps, so he looks up from the kettle. “Hello,” he says softly. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“Tigger snores,” says his daughter with an uncertain half-smile. Oh, how he hates that she can’t even smile at him. 

He laughs a little at that, and her smile grows less shaky. “Yes, that’s right, he does, doesn’t he? I’ll tell you a secret, though: Rabbit snores worse. He’d never admit it, of course.”

“Your tea’s done,” she points out.

“Why, so it is,” he says. “Thank you, Maddy. Would you like a cup?”

She shakes her head no, and he notices out of the corner of his eye that she’s swaying a little to the music.

God, he loves her. 

Abruptly Christopher makes a decision. He turns around, holds out a hand. “Lady Madeleine,” he says solemnly. “May I have this dance?”

She actually giggles at this (progress!) and takes his hand. He smiles down at her-- his daughter, his Maddy, his most precious thing.

And so they sway for a while, father and daughter, small feet on top of larger ones, to music they both know by heart. Christopher looks at her and his heart swells so much he feels it may burst. 

She yawns after a while, and he chuckles. “Tired?”

Maddy nods a little. 

“C’mon,” he says, lifting her up to sit on his shoulders. “Let’s get you to bed, sweetheart.”

Christopher tucks her in and reads her a bit from Treasure Island and marvels at how very young she is and how little he knows her.

Finally she falls asleep. He leaves her room softly and finds her mother waiting for him downstairs.

“Hello,” he says, a little awkward.

“Hello,” she says. “Your tea’s gone cold.”

“Evelyn,” he starts. “I--”

“You know,” says his wife, “this was the happiest I’ve seen you in years. I haven’t seen you laugh like that in a long time, Christopher.”

“I know,” says Christopher quietly. “I… I’m sorry, Ev. I lost myself, and I almost. I almost let myself lose you. I’m so sorry.”

Evelyn sighs. She reaches up with one hand to cup his face. “It’s all right,” she says.

“It really isn’t,” he protests.

She smiles a little at that. “No,” she says, “it isn’t. But you’re not planning on doing it again, are you?”

“No,” he says. “Never, never. Ev, I would never.”

Evelyn looks him in the eye. He hadn’t realized that he’d missed the warmth of her gaze. “I know,” she says.

They stand there in comfortable silence. Christopher realizes that he never turned the music off. 

“Dance with me,” he says suddenly. 

“What?”

“You heard me. Dance with me, Evelyn.” He stretches out his hand and grins at her, a little reckless. 

She takes his hand. He holds her close, presses his face in her hair. 

“I love you,” he says.

“There’s the man I fell for,” says Evelyn softly. She’s smiling at him, and Christopher feels like a great weight has just been lifted off his shoulders.

“I love you too, Christopher. But…”

“But?” 

“I believe I was promised a dance?”

He laughs, and kisses her once, sweetly. “Anything for you,” he says, and means it.

Christopher Robin dances in the arms of the woman he loves and relaxes. He’s going to be all right, he thinks. They all are.


End file.
